A Quick Run Down of a Cricket's Life Cycle

Here's The Cricket Life Cycle Cheat Sheet to give you a Fast & Furious Head Start on your Cricket Curriculum

Mother Cricket Lays hundreds of Eggs

Eggs incubate for 14 days

“nymph” hatches from the egg

“nymph” grows into a cricket

And here's the detailed version of that story...

The glamorous life of a feeder cricket starts with an impregnated female. The female crickets have the ovipositors. Many people think these are tails. But instead, they're a tubes from which the impregnated female cricket deposits her eggs. And the mother cricket can lay hundreds of eggs at a time.

But she won't just lay them anywhere. Moist peat moss offers a perfect bedding material for the eggs. So it's important that in your habitat, you make a separate area. This area will contain that moist peat moss. And the females will deposit their eggs in that medium, so that hungry males don't eat the eggs.

But don't stop with just the moist peat moss. Because incubating crickets require a specific temperature range. 80 to 90 degrees will help ensure that the eggs are properly incubated.

After the mother crickets have had about a week to lay their eggs in the peat moss, you'll want to relocate that container into a new bin. This is how you keep the crickets within the same age. And this is how you prevent the adult males from eating the infants.

Assuming the ideal environment has been established, the nymphs will break free from the egg. A newborn nymph is the size of a pinhead. However, just because they are smaller, doesn't mean their appetites are smaller. They will require just as much water as the adults and adolescents. So make sure to always have a wet sponge in their container. And throw in a few apple, potato, or orange slices for their nutrients.

The nymph cricket is a miniature version of an adult cricket. Older crickets can display signs of cannibalism, and prey on the younger crickets. So if the nymphs can survive crickets, it’ll take nearly 6 weeks until they become the bully cricket that preys on the young nymphs. During the cricket’s life-cycle, it will shed and molt its exoskeleton 8-10 times during this 6 week period.

Skip the headache, and buy your own crickets

Now, breeding and raising crickets requires dedication, responsibility, and planning. And sometimes, our busy lives don't allow this type of hobby. And in case you're one of the many that can't take on that added work, then you can always buy crickets online. Here are the sizes we have to offer.